• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Mass Moths on iNaturalist

Mass Moths

Mass Moths

Welcome to Mass Moths – The Place to go for information on Massachusetts Moths

  • Home
  • Species List
    • View Species List
    • Species List Info
  • Search
  • Community
    • How to participate and submit records
    • Moth Identification
    • Thanks
  • Summarized Project Data
  • About
  • Contact

Moths navigation

<< Previous Species:
Acrocercops strigosa
Next Species:
Leucospilapteryx n.sp.
>>
Gracillarioidea >> Gracillariidae >> Acrocercopinae >> Leucospilapteryx

Leucospilapteryx venustella

(Clemens, 1860)

Sort #: 267 | P3 #: 330226 | MPG #: 698 | PFG Page #: 38
View on BugGuide | View on iNaturalist | BOLD Link

Larval feeding type: Large underside leaf-mine, pupates outside the mine in a silken cocoon
Larval substrate: Ageratina altissima* (White Snakeroot), Eupatorium (Boneset), Eutrochium dubium* (Coastal Plain Joe-Pye Weed), Mikania scandens (Climbing Hempvine)
Phenology: Adult: 7/20 to 8/23 (3 records)

Comment: Can be mistaken for Acrocercops astericola, but L. venustella has white along the base of the dorsum, whereas in astericola it is brown; the tarsi in both species are banded, not plain white as in Leucospilapteryx n.sp.

Status in MA (automated assessment): Fairly widespread, fairly common
Status in N. America: Native
MA Endangered Species Act status: None
First Year Reported: 1936
Last Year Reported: 2020

Distribution by County: Berkshire, Franklin, Middlesex, Essex, Bristol, Plymouth, Dukes, Nantucket
Number of Records: 24

  • Young mine on Eutrochium dubium (from above) (Photo: ©S. Whitebread)
  • Four mines in one leaf on Eutrochium dubium (from below) (Photo: ©S. Whitebread)
  • Four mines in one leaf on Eutrochium dubium (from above) (Photo: ©S. Whitebread)
  • Fully developed mine on Eutrochium dubium (from above) (Photo: ©S. Whitebread)
  • Fully developed mine on Ageratina altissima (from above) (Photo: ©S. Whitebread)
  • Larvae turn red shortly before for pupation (Photo: ©S. Whitebread)
  • Pupal cocoon being prepared (Photo: ©S. Whitebread)
  • Pupal cocoon almost completed (Photo: ©S. Whitebread)

Copyright © 2023 MassMoths · Log in